Whale Conservation and Research related to the OCNMS

John Calambokidis Cascadia Research Long-term studies by Cascadia Research

Humpback Gray whale  Abundance  Abundance  Existence of  Long-term trends  Movements seasonal residents  Movements &  Tagging work  Movements migrations  Feeding behavior  Abundance  N Pacific wide  Vocal behavior  Site fidelity studies (SPLASH)  Strandings Cascadia Photo-ID catalogs and encounters for E N Pacific

Start of Photo-ID primary catalog Sightings/I Species effort (unique IDs) Ds

Humpback 1986 4,663 37,754

Gray whales 1998 1,732 28,433

Blue whales 1986 2,257 14,043 SWFSC/NOAA ship survey June-Sept 2018 transect lines

>1,500 IDs & >300 samples collected Small boat effort, sightings, and samples from humpback whales in 2018 Biologically Important Feeding Areas SPLASH multi-strata estimates (Wade et al.) Proportion of humpback whales matching breeding areas Humpback whale trends – and Humpback whale trends – – S Salish Sea Areas of Columbia River recent expansion of humpback whale occurrence SF Bay

S California Bight Increased sighting reports of humpback whales in Salish Sea 600 Sighting reports of humpback whales in the Salish Sea

500

400

300

200 Number of sighitngs

100

0

Year 2018 Effort and humpback sightings 2018 Effort and humpback sightings W N Pacific Population PCFG

E N Pacific population Sounders – N whale hunt – May 1999 PCFG abundance 1998-2017 Gray Whale Strandings per Year in Washington Number of Stranding Events per Year 40 34 35

30 27

25 23

20

15 13 11 9 10 9 10 10 8 8 6 6 6 7 7 4 4 5 4 4 4 5 4 5 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 2 2 1 1 2 2 2 2 1 2 2 2 0 1977 1979 1981 1983 1985 1987 1989 1991 1993 1995 1997 1999 2001 2003 2005 2007 2009 2011 2013 2015 2017 2019 Biologically Important Areas – Gray whales Aerial photograph of feeding whale in Strait of Juan de Fuca Variety of prey and habitats overall: Head of Feeding on ghost whale shrimp in N Puget Sound

Mud plume

Feeding in shallow water off Camano Island Feeding pits made by gray whales off Whidbey Island, Puget Sound Gray whale occurrence in N Puget Sound

• Primarily seen March through June then not other areas • 12 whales seen in >3 years, core group arrived in two waves 1990-91 & 1999-2000

•2 whales “discovered” N Puget Sound

Dubnuc seen in SPS in 1991 then shifted to regular NPS North Puget Sound gray whale (Sounders) sighting histories for whales seen more than 2 years Confirmed N Puget Sound gray whales seen two or more of the last five years. Green indicates seen in NPS and purple only outside NPS. Span ID Name Sex 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 Yrs 21 Shackleton M 30 22 Earhart F 30 44 Dubnuck M 29 49 Patch M 29 53 Little Patch M 29 56 M 29 185 M 22 356 21 383 M 21 396 F 21 531 F 20 723 Lucy M 20 2246 2 WA strandings and new NPS regulars 30 Strandings

25

20

15

10

5

0 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

5 New regular whales to NPS 4

3

2

1

0 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 Blue whales 27 5

1 1824 207

233 11 1 5 2 29 88 25 1 Legend Dec-April 1 39 May-Nov

Matches between feeding areas not represented Movement of blue whales between California and areas to the north

Rare sighting of Blue Whales off the Washington Coast – 24 July 2019 • Two blue whales feeding 17 nautical miles NW of Grays Harbor in 60 m of water. • Sightings off Washington are rare with just a handful of documented sightings in the last 50 years. • The most recent documented sightings were in 2011 including 6 in December • The two whales seen on 24 July 2019 were both identified by their natural markings as known whales. One was CRC-3385, seen previously in June 2016 in the Santa Barbara Channel and in 2016 and 2017 near . • The other animal was CRC-3174 and had been seen previously in August 2014 off southern California (near Malibu). Deploying tags on whales Threats to large whales

 Ship strikes  Entanglements in fishing gear  Underwater sound  Changing ocean conditions West Coast Large Whale Entanglement and Response

MAKAH TRIBE

CRC/SR3 Image NOAA Permits #18786-03 For many species of large whales entanglement is #1 source of human caused death

CRC Image Immediate: Drowning Long-term: Starvation SR3 Image

CRC Image Chronic: Infection (sepsis) Trauma: bleed out…etc RightCCS whale Image #2030

CCS Image Chronic: drag

Moore, M. J. (2014). How we all kill whales. ICES Journal of Marine Science, 71(4), 760-763. Read, AJ, P. Drinker, and S. Northridge. 2006. of marine in U.S. and global fisheries. Conservation Biology : the Journal of the Society for Conservation Biology 20, no. 1: 163-169. Average time to death of entangled ≈ 6 months

range: immediate to two years

NOAA Images

Moore, M.J., Bogomolni, A , Bowman, R , Hamilton, P.K. , Harry, C.T. , Knowlton, A , Landry, S , Rotstein, D , Touhey, K. (2006). Fatally entangled right whales can die extremely slowly. 1 - 3. 10.1109/OCEANS.2006.306792. Impacts of entanglement on reproductive rates • reproductive female right whales with severe entanglement wounds have significantly longer calving intervals than females with no or minor wounds. • females carrying gear or with severe entanglement histories are significantly less likely to calve again. • energetic costs of an entanglement can have immediate or long-term impacts on reproduction

Right whale 1140 (“Wart”) - Disentangled in 2010 by broadhead cutter shot with a crossbow - Not seen again until April 2013 in Cape Cod Bay with a calf

Knowlton, A. R., Hamilton, P. K., & Pettis, H. M. (2012). Status of reproductive females in the North Atlantic right whale population and impacts of human activities on their reproductive success. Report for NOAA Cooperative Agreement Number CCS Images NA09OAR4320129. Feeding grounds When and where do entanglements happen?

Vancouver Aquarium

Migrating

Duke University

Breeding grounds

1984 to 2018 Entanglements on the US West Coast (source: NOAA Fisheries) RABEN Gear Sources of Entangled Whales on the US West Coast 2015 to 2017

dungeness crab

unknown

spiny lobster

sablefish

shrimp

prawn net Source: NOAA Fisheries West Coast Large Whale Entanglements – 1994 to 2018

(source: NOAA Fisheries) Entanglements off California (from NOAA) Increased entanglements in the Pacific NW

2018 EntanglementReported Entanglement Reports 1994 to1994 2018-2018 in -WA19 credible & OR reports (live and dead with entanglement) - 15 confirmed

Humpback whale Gray whale whale Blainsville Unidentified Mysticete & CRC RHIB Resight of entangled humpback Research efforts coordinated with 20180707Mn - Search by Reuben Lasker & CRC First sighting of emaciated entanglement responders can locate - Documentation collected by CRC humpback RHIB and respond immediately to entangled - Reuben Lasker stood by as CRC and SR3 responded to Inwhales 2018, research teams with the collect more documentation First sighting of entangled humpback 20180730Mn California Current Ecosystem Survey - Attempts to attach telemetry - Documentation collected searched, documented and/or CRC R/V Ziphid - 3-day response effort with CRC/SR3/OSU responded to 7 entanglement reports (6 whales were entangled) First sighting of entangled humpback 20180805Mn - Located by Reuben Lasker & CRC RHIB - Telemetry attached by CRC - Severe injury to peduncle - Disentangled the next day Resight of entangled humpback 20181012Mn – emaciated, long-term entanglement - CRC-SR3 & CWR, WET Team conducted 2-day entanglement response

First sighting of entangled humpback 20180904Mn - Whale located at start of effort R/V Reuben Lasker - Drone documentation collected - Whale shed gear as response team First sighting of entangled humpback 20180921Mn - Dead entangled whale - Documentation collected Reasons for Entanglement Response

Welfare

Public Safety

Conservation

CCS Images NOAA Permit #932-1905 Documentation collected during an entanglement response is critical to understanding the problem

Helmet Cam

Underwater camera with pole mount

Documenting and Storage of Gear Removed from Entangled Whales

Preventative solutions

Whale illustration by Uko Gorter require good information What you can do

• Look for entangled whales • Report entanglements immediately • Stand-by • Document 1-877-767-9425 NMFS WEST COAST ENTANGLEMENT REPORTING HOTLINE

CCS Image When Standing By: Give the whale lots of space and move slowly

• Your vessel can become entangled in the gear trailing behind the whale

• If the whale becomes agitated by close approaches of the stand-by vessel it will make it harder for responders to disentangle the whale Standing By is Critical to a Successful Response

2 hours 450 nm2 1 hour 110 nm2

20 minutes 12 nm2

Search area Summary of 2018 WA/OR On-Water Responses (Primarily Cascadia and SR3 with others assisting)

• two responses to live entangled whales • search for 6 live entangled whales • search for 2 dead entangled whales • USCG support and/or search for 5 events over 7 days • necropsy on 3 dead entangled whales

CRC/SR3 Images Images taken under NOAA Permit #18786-03 Entangled Gray Whale – No ID 2018-04-13 – Mukilteo

- reported by Washington State Ferry Cpt. - SR3 / CRC conducted a search on Apr 14th - found the whale late in the day - attached telemetry - collected underwater documentation - left whale near sunset CRC/SR3 Images Taken under NOAA Permit #18786-03 - shortly after sunset a 126’ yacht ran between the whale and buoy (telemetry signal stopped) - buoy became entangled in yacht’s rudder - whale was seen surfacing near yacht just after

- network recovered gear (including an entangling buoy) from salvage company - gear traced back to Oregon - Entangled Gray Whale – No ID 2018-05-08 – 20 nm SW of La Push

- Reported by commercial salmon troller - USCG helicopter confirmed entanglement Cascadia and SR3 responded (w USCG support) –conducted an assessment, collected documentation and attached telemetry at sunset in building seas. - Whale was bloated (sub-cutaneous emphysema) and couldn’t dive - Deeply embedded line in the peduncle Two-day response, left whale with some wraps that we hoped would be shed. Prognosis poor with bloating and line embedded CRC/SR3 Images in peduncle - May 18, whale likely seen off the Prairie - May 26, whale washed up dead near Westport (necropsy conducted by Portland State University)

Images taken under NOAA Permit #18786-03 Dead Entangled Whales Proportion of dead whales in WA where entanglement was related to the mortality - proportion of dead stranded whales with entanglements is growing.

- this year proportion of total strandings 5/19 (26.3%)

- not all entanglement injuries seen on stranded whales are related to mortality (but they should all be recorded on the level A).

- entangling gear is often not present on whale Source: Cascadia Research Collective (comes off with wave action or is removed). Connection between and entanglements Overlap of ships and whale off the US West Coast 20180924-TDR10-Tag11-MN Strait of Juan de Fuca

Deployed: 1440 24 Sept 2018 Tag Off: 2031 25 Sept 2018 Recovered: 1117 26 Sept 2018 Prey of humpback whales in the Salish Sea Dual frequency (50/200 KHz) recording echo sounders in areas of whale feeding Deployment 24 Sept 2018 – CATS-53 High mortality of blue, humpback and fin whales from vessel collisions on the U.S. West Coast suggests population impacts and insufficient protection

R. Cotton Rockwood1, John Calambokidis2, Jaime Jahncke1 1 Point Blue Conservation Science 2 Cascadia Research Collective

50th percentile area 90th percentile area Percent Percent of total of total Species Total mortality Mortality mortality Mortality mortality Blue whale 19.0 18.6 98.1% 14.0 73.8% Humpback whale 19.9 18.6 93.5% 16.3 81.9% 38.3 37.4 97.7% 25.1 65.5% Conclusions

 Humpback whales have returned to the Salish Sea as their populations have recovered exposing them to increased risks from ship strikes, ship noise, and entanglements.  Some gray whale (Sounders) have discovered an off-migration feeding area in N Puget Sound. Feeding areas like this may become increasingly important as the population faces nutritional stress  New tools and research approaches are providing insights into whale behavior, their response to threats, and strategies for mitigation.  Only by staying informed and active can we identify and implement strategies to better co-exist. Planned activities in 2020

• Continue to improve response to entanglements of whales • Collaboration with DFO on tag deployments on humpback whales related to ship strike risk • Extending density/distribution analysis of line transect data including OCNMS surveys and WDFW Corliss surveys • Working with SWFSC on new models of humpback whale population structure and abundance along with comparison to 2018 survey results • Continue abundance estimates from photo-ID for blue, humpback and PCFG gray whales Important roles for OCNMS

• Assist in responding and standing by entangled whales • Support and assistance in planned surveys and tag deployments planned for 2020 • Assisting in ways to reduce ship strike risk both in terms of shipping lane locations and routes ships take headed south to other US Ports